Laundry appliance having scrubber means



Jan. 20, 1970 A. MASON 3,490,254

LAUNDRY APPLIANCE HAVING SGRUBBER MEANS Filed May 28, 1968 INVENTOR.

AA/n/a/vy MAJ a/V y ATTORNEY-K United States Patent O 3,490,254 LAUNDRYAPPLIANCE HAVING SCRUBBER MEANS Anthony Mason, Benton Harbor, Mich.,assignor to Whirlpool Corporation, Benton Harbor, Mich., a corporationof Delaware Filed May 28, 1968, Ser. No. 732,752 Int. Cl. D06f 29/00U.S. C]. 6814 7 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Laundry applianceincluding a scrubber means for scrubbing particularly soiled fabrics,the scrubbing means including a flexible diaphragm having a scrubbingsurface thereon and being supplied with recirculating laundry liquidfrom the applicance, the scrubbing means also including a valve operatedby pressure on the diaphragm to provide laundry liquid at the scrubbingsurface.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention This invention is inthe field of laundry appliances and more particularly relates toautomatic washing machines wherein a scrubber is embodied in the machineand receives pressurized laundry liquid at its surface by applyingpressure to the scrubber means.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART Hughes U.S. Patent No. 2,979,932 describesan automatic washing machine which employs a scrubber attachment on theagitator thereof for pretreating particularly soiled garments. A streamof water having a rela- Shelton U.S. Patent No. 3,209,560 describesstill another type of washing machine with a scrubber attachment, thescrubber being part of a separate receptacle which is placed in theopening of the tub which is supplied with some of the recirculatinglaundry liquid.

The present invention represents an improvement over machines of thistype in that the user does not have to scrub the articles on the surfaceof an oscillating memtively high concentration of detergent is passedthrough the fabric during the scrubbing operation.

ber, and has complete control over the amount of laundry liquid which isemployed for the scrubbing operation.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In the laundry appliance of the presentinvention, there is provided scrubbing means for pretreating areas ofscrubbing surface, In the preferred form of the invention, Y I

the scrubbing means takes the form of a diaphragm made of flexibleresilient material such as rubber and having a scrubbing surface formedthereon, the diaphragm being perforated so as to communicate with areservoir located immediately behind the diaphragm. Recirculatinglaundry liquid under the positive pressure of the reversible pumpemployed in the laundry machine supplies laundry liquid to the reservoirunder the control of a check valve which is operated by pressure on thescrubbing surface. Consequently, the operator has complete control overthe amount of washing liquid diverted to the scrubbing surface.Furthermore, the laundry liquid dispensed through the surface of thescrubber contains precisely the right concentration of washing agentssince it is the same laundry liquid which is used during the mainwashing 3,490,254 Patented Jan. 20, 1970 ice operation. This preventsthe operator from concentrating too much washing agent on the soiledareas prior to the scrubbing operation.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERREDEMBODIMENTS Turning to the drawings, reference numeral 10 has beenapplied to a cabinet of the type normally employed in automatic washingmachines, and being provided with a hinged lid 11. The lid 11 serves toclose off a well 12 having a centrally disposed opening 13 whichprovides access to the interior of a rotatable perforatebasket 14 inwhich the fabrics to be laundered are inserted. Agitation of the laundryliquid and the fabrics is accomplished by means of a conventionalvertical agitator 15 disposed at the center of the basket 14.

The improved scrubbing unit of the present invention is identifiedgenerally at reference numeral 16 in FIG- URE l. Conveniently, thescrubbing assembly 16 is located at a corner of the well 12 where it isreadily accessible to the operator, and from which the excess laundryliquid can conveniently drain back into the tub 14.

As best illustrated in FIGURE 2, the agitator 15 is driven inoscillatory fashion from a transmission 17 by means of a motor 18. Thesame motor drives a reversible pump 19 as by means of a belt 20.

The perforate basket 14 is located within a stationary imperforate tub21. The laundry liquid is applied to the tub 21 by means of a conduit 22controlled by an electrically actuated valve 23. The constantlycirculating laundry liquid during the washing operation is filtered bypassing the same through a filter 24 having a check valve 25 in seriestherewith.

As is well understood in the art, the various cycles of an automaticwashing machine are controlled by timer means (not shown) which initiatethe sequence of filling the tub with laundry liquid, agitating,draining, rinsing and spin drying.

At the outset of the washing cycle, the fabrics to be laundered areplaced within the perforate basket and the electrically actuated valve23 opens to allow laundry liquid to pass through the conduit 22 into thetub 21. When the liquid level in the tub reaches a predetermined height,the valve 23 is deenergized by suitable control means (not shown)thereby terminating further admission of laundry liquid. Then, the motor18 is energized and the agitator 15 is thereby driven in an oscillatoryfashion by means of the transmission 17. The motor 18 also drives thereversible pump 19, and water is drawn from the tub through a conduit26, the check valve 25, the filter 24, and a conduit 27 which connectsthe filter 24 with the pump 19. In this phase of the operation, thelaundry liquid is discharged by the pump 19 through a conduit 28 whichdelivers it to a button trap 29 before the liquid is again introducedinto the tub 21.

At the completion of the laundering operation, the reversible pump 19 isdriven in the reverse direction causing liquid to be drawn from the tub21 through the button trap 29 and into the conduit 28. The pump deliversthe liquid through the conduit 27, the filter 24 and a check valve 30whereupon it is discharged through an outlet conduit 31. During thisphase of the operation, any sediment collected by the filter 24 isflushed by backwashing and is discharged through the drain conduit 31.The check valve 25 prevents any recirculation of the liquid back intothe tub 21.

An auxiliary line 32 extends from the conduit 28, and is provided with acheck valve 33 which permits flow of the liquid into a conduit 34 whichfeeds the scrubber assembly 16. The presence of the check valve 33insures that the laundry liquid will be supplied through the scrubberassembly 16 only during the recirculation of the laundry liquid, and notduring draining of the liquid from the tub.

The scrubbing assembly is shown in detail in FIGURE 3 of the drawings.The scrubbing element itself consists of a flexible diaphragm 35composed of rubber or the like and being provided with corrugations 36at its upper surface against which the severely soiled fabrics can berubbed. The outer periphery of the diaphragm 35 is provided with agrommet type flange 37 which has a head portion 38 engaging theperiphery of the opening in the well 12 in sealing relation. The grommettype flange 37 also tightly engages the peripheral end portion 39 of acup-like member 40, thereby providing a liquid reservoir 41 between thecup-like member and the diaphragm 35. The cup-like member 40 also has acentrally disposed aperture providing a valve seat 42. A hose connector43 embraces a collar 44 of the cup-shaped member 40 and receives the endof the hose 34 thereon.

The valve element illustrated in FIGURE 3 has an end portion 45 embeddedin the diaphragm 35, and has an enlarged end portion including a seatingface 46 arranged to be normally seated against the valve seat 42. Thenatural resilience of the diaphragm 35 seats the valve element in thevalve seat under normal operating conditions. If a non-resilientdiaphragm is employed, a biasing spring will be provided to urge thevalve element against its seat.

The diaphragm 35 is also provided with a plurality of apertures 47 whichpermit the laundry liquidto flow to the corrugations 36 when thediaphragm is depressed sufficiently to unseat the seating face 46 fromagainst its seat 42. Upon opening of the valve, therefore, recirculatinglaundry liquid is forced by the pump 19 through the conduit 32, thecheck valve 33 and the conduit 34 into the reservoir 41. The laundryliquid then appears at the scrubbing surface by passing through theapertures 47 in the diaphragm 35. The amount of pressure applied to thevalve element determines the amount of laundry liquid appearing at thesurface, so that the operator has complete control of the amount ofliquid used for scrubbing. The concentration of washing agents in theliquid used for scrubbing is the same as that used in the mainlaundering operation, so that there is no possibility of providing anover concentration of washing agents in the highly soiled spots. At thecompletion of the scrubbing operation, when pressure is released fromagainst the diaphragm 35, any excess laundry liquid will drain down theWell 12 and back into the tub 21.

"'The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property orprivilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1.- A laundry appliance comprising:

a housing,

a tub supported in said housing,

means for supplying laundry liquid to said tub,

reversible pump means for withdrawing laundry liquidl from said tub andrecirculating it thereto,

a scrubber means mounted on said housing,

conduit means connecting said scrubber means to said pump means tothereby delivery pressurized laundry liquid to said scrubber meansduring such recirculation,

and valve means in said scrubber means for delivering laundry liquid tothe surface of said scrubber means. 2. The appliance of claim 1 whereinsaid scrubber means includes a perforate resilient diaphragm having ascrubbing surface, and said valve means is operated by pressure on saiddiaphragm.

3. The appliance of claim 2 in which said scrubber means includesapertured wall means defining a reservoir positioned behind saiddiaphragm and said valve means is positioned to close ofi the aperturein said wall means 4. The appliance of claim 3 in which said valve meanshas one end portion embedded in said diaphragm and said valve means isurged into seating relationship with said wall means by the resilienceof said diaphragm.

5. In a laundry appliance having a tub and circulating means forperiodically circulating laundry liquid in a confined flow path into andout of said tub, the improvement which comprises:

a resilient scrubber means, means for withdrawing a portion of thecirculating laundry liquid and delivering it to said scrubber means,

and valve means operated by deflection of said scrubber means tointroduce laundry liquid to the surface of said scrubber means.

6. The appliance of claim 2 which includes:

a rigid wall means forming a reservoir at the rear of said diaphragm,

means for connecting the periphery of said diaphragm to the peripheraledge of said wall means in sealing relation,

said wall means including a valve seat therein, and

said valve extending between said diaphragm and said valve seat,

and having a seating surface arranged to be received in said valve seat.

7. The appliance of claim 2 in which said scrubber means is located inclose proximity to said tub so that liqglid may drain from said scrubbermeans back into said ill References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS2,979,932 4/ 1961 Hughes 6854 X 3,209,560 10/ 1965 Shelton 68-14 XFOREIGN PATENTS 945,683 7/ 1956 Germany.

WILLIAM I. PRICE, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.Rt

